


A Little After the Third of July

by janelilylilyjane



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, Post-The Dream Thieves, Pre-Blue Lily Lily Blue, hints at some things explored in bllb, mostly just ot5 friendship, somewhere in those few weeks between the 4th of July and the start of school, the relationships are super subtle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4203678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janelilylilyjane/pseuds/janelilylilyjane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam is confused and paranoid, and everyone else is oblivious.<br/>In which the rest of the Raven Gang throws Adam a late, surprise birthday party, but they are very bad at not acting suspicious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little After the Third of July

**Author's Note:**

> So, here's a fic inspired by [this text post](http://adumbparrish.tumblr.com/post/121055872697/i-just-really-want-a-fic-where-the-gang-throws). As the tags say, it takes place between tdt and bllb, and I tried to keep it as canon as possible (though I'm not sure if I succeeded), so I mentioned some things that get mentioned in bllb, as well as some events in tdt. And, let's be real, Ronan totally tells awful puns.  
> My trc blog is [janelilylilyjane](http://janelilylilyjane.tumblr.com/).  
> Let me know if you spot any mistakes (grammatical or otherwise)!

The whole group had been acting strange around Adam.

It wasn’t as though this was a new thing, really. Ever since Adam had made his bargain with Cabeswater, he felt them observing him in the corner of their eyes. Ever since that awful and eventful trip to DC, he felt the glances become more worried and sympathetic. And, ever since Adam began to come to an understanding with Cabeswater– “understanding” being a relative term, as it was closer to being scared out of his mind until he was able to grab his tarot cards and have a vague sense of Cabeswater’s wishes and make wild guesses until he finally got it right and everything went back to normal– he felt wonder mixed in with the worrying and the curiosity in their gazes.

But this week, it was different. Things had been, for the most part, going back to normal. It wasn’t what they had had before the 4th of July and the week or so preceding it, but they were going back to a less-hectic daily life. Blue was worried sick over her missing mother; Ronan seemed to be filled with some strange, un-Ronan-like wonder over his recently-awakened mother and his newly-legal access to the Barns; Noah was more present and accessible, closer to how he’d been when they first knew him; Gansey’s search for Glendower had become more feverish and fretful. And Adam had been working with Persephone, trying to learn what it meant to be Cabeswater’s hands and eyes. They had all been skirting around the topic of Kavinsky for the past few weeks, and everyone was actively not thinking about the numbered days left in summer.

It wasn’t exactly _normal_ , but it was what they got, and no one was about to complain.

And yet, this week, _something_ had obviously changed, but Adam wasn't sure what it was. Something new has been mixed up in their heavy glances at Adam. It was whispers and conversations that trailed off when he arrived. It was nudging each other and sending each other _looks_ , meaningful glances that Adam wasn't in on. He could feel himself drifting away from his friends, but he didn’t think they would be drifting away from him as well.

When Ronan hung out at St. Agnes and slept on his floor, this new element was nowhere to be found in his glimpses at Adam. There were the _other things_ , though, the wonder and curiosity stronger in his glances than anyone else's, to the point where they got tangled up in Ronan's gaze and became something else entirely. A different type of new and confusing, something that Adam didn't want to think about. Not yet.

When Ronan was with the rest of the group, however, this new _something_ was just as present in his eyes as in anyone else on the group. Whatever it was, it was a group thing. They were keeping something from him, he knew that much. And, whatever it was, he was going to find out. Somehow.

The familiar charcoal-grey car pulled into the St. Agnes parking lot, and Adam stood up from sitting on one of the steps leading up to his apartment.

“Parrish,” Ronan greeted Adam with a nod as he opened the door, shouting to be heard over the terrible music he insisted on blasting. “Gansey was wondering about your work schedule for the week.” Somehow, Adam had let himself get talked into letting Ronan drive him to work. Again. If Adam was going to accept help from any of his friends, it would be Ronan– Ronan didn't do anything he didn't want to do. Anyway, Adam figured it kept Ronan out of trouble; Kavinsky wasn't the only racer on the streets.

Adam raised an eyebrow as he settled into the passenger seat of the BMW. “Was he? Why?” Adam had become skeptical of just about everything his friends had been doing lately. He watched Ronan’s face carefully as he asked, looking for that hint of _something_.

But Ronan’s eyes stayed trained on the road, and his face gave nothing away. “He said something about wanting to figure out when to continue working on the search for Glendower.”

Of course. That was all it was. Adam was being too suspicious, and that never did any good. Even when he had been right about someone else being on the trail for Glendower, being suspicious hadn’t stopped Barrington Whelk. All he had done was waste precious time worrying, and, between work and Cabeswater, he couldn’t afford to waste anymore time. Really, he needed all of the focus and sleep he could get.

“Give me your phone. I’ll text it to him.”

“Take it.” Ronan nodded towards the glove compartment. “It’s in there, somewhere.” As always, he did everything he could to avoid touching his phone.

Adam leaned forward and sifted through the compartment’s contents for Ronan’s phone. It was a mess of garbage, dream things, and burnt CDs of downloaded music. Adam tried not to pay attention to the strange objects in there, but, when he came across something very familiar, he couldn’t help it. “An epipen?” Finding the phone between a CD of music that Adam would never willing listen to and a distressingly old-looking hamburger wrapper, he grabbed the phone and closed the glove compartment with a _snap_. “What’s that doing in there?”

“Why are you asking so many fucking questions, Parrish?” Ronan’s voice was sharp, cutting. “Just send the text and mind your own goddamn business.”

Adam typed up his text to Gansey silently. If Ronan didn’t want to talk, he wouldn’t pry. The epipen had nothing to do with Adam, anyway.

The rest of the drive was quiet, as quiet as loud music allowed, until they arrived at Adam’s job. Ronan stopped the BMW in the parking lot outside of the garage.

Adam opened the door and got out of the car. Before closing the door, Adam turned back to Ronan. “See ya, Lynch.” This was Adam’s way of apologizing.

Ronan stayed facing ahead, not looking at Adam, but his mouth quirked into the faintest bit of a smirk. “Yeah, Parrish. I’ll see ya.” This was Ronan’s way of accepting Adam’s apology.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, Adam arrived in front of Monmouth, clutching the handles of his bicycle. Despite his newly-acquired car, he tried to bike wherever possible. The good weather would only last so long, so he figured he might as well take advantage of it while he can. Besides, gas was expensive.

Quietly, Adam walked up the stairs and edged towards the door, where the rest of the group was waiting. They were talking in hushed voices. Adam knew he shouldn’t listen in, but how could he not?

“...get snacks.” Blue had been saying.

“ _Healthy_ snacks. And non-perishables.” Gansey added. Adam could practically hear him excitedly pointing at Blue while he said it.

“Ha.” Ronan’s voice cut in. “Non- _Parrish_ -ables.” The whole group laughed, and Adam felt himself grin, despite his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Really, when Ronan told a joke, it was always awful, but he somehow managed to make them all laugh anyway. And he managed to distract Adam from the task at hand.

“Adam’s here!” Noah announced, voice loud to be heard over the laughter. It seemed that his weird, supernatural ghost powers had blown Adam’s cover.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Adam opened the door, which had been unlocked for him, and walked in to join his friends.

 

* * *

 

“I’ll drive you to Monmouth after work today. I mean, after you change and shower and do whatever the hell else you need to do.” Adam opened his mouth; he hadn’t decided whether it was getting ready to protest or to question, but he was interrupted before he could say anything. “Gansey insisted. Said something about worrying about you biking after working so much, or something. Whatever. Wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

This wasn’t the entire truth, Adam could tell, but it was just enough of the truth that it didn’t offend Ronan to tell it. Adam would have to bring this up with Gansey later, but there was no point in starting an argument with Ronan. Adam was nearly late for work as it was, because sitting in the parking lot didn’t technically count as being at work. “Sure. Okay.” Adam opened the door and got out of the car. “I’ll try not to make you wait too long.”

 

* * *

 

 

Adam was changed, showered, and highly suspicious as he got into Ronan’s car. Ronan had waited in the car, which had been parked in the parking lot the whole time it had taken Adam to clean himself up after work. Though Adam had taken a bit longer than he planned, Ronan didn’t even go up to his apartment to bug him and tell him to hurry up. And, as Adam closed the car door and buckled his seatbelt ten minutes later than planned, Ronan didn’t even comment.

They rode in silence. Ronan didn’t even try to play any of his awful music.

Adam looked out the window, watching the shadows of the streetlights and resisting the urge to ask Ronan if he was alright.

The ride, thankfully, wasn’t too long. As they neared Monmouth, Ronan finally mentioned that Adam had spent too long getting ready, and, as he joked about it, Adam practically breathed a sigh of relief.

When Ronan parked the BMW at Monmouth Manufacturing, Adam nearly threw himself out of the car. The ride hadn’t exactly been awkward, but Adam had had enough of strange. He already had a forest going weird on him; He didn’t need his friends to be doing the same.

Ronan got out of the car fast as usual, and, by the time Adam reached the steps, Ronan was next to him and the two of them were walking up the steps side-by-side. When they reached the door, Ronan held a hand out in front of him, gesturing for Adam to go in first. He did so sarcastically, but it was obvious that he meant it. Adam furrowed his eyebrows, confused, but he opened the door and went inside first anyway.

“Surprise!” Three voices shouted at him, excited, and Adam recoiled, his mouth falling open and eyes blinking rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes from the darkness of the night to the brightness inside Monmouth.

Behind him, Ronan muttered a half-hearted, “Surprise,” then nudged a shocked Adam forward so that he could step inside and shut the door.

It wasn’t like a TV show or movie; the only people in the room were the ones he had expected to see, but there was no doubt it was a party. A surprise party. For him.

And Adam was definitely surprised. Adam’s eyes were beginning to adjust, and he looked around the large room in awe: at the balloons, the streamers, the banners, the pool table covered in snacks. All for him.

“Happy birthday, Adam!” Gansey grinned and gestured to the decorated room. Adam just stared, too shocked to say anything.

Blue scuffed. “He _means_ ‘happy _extremely late_ birthday,’ because _someone_ ,” Blue looked pointedly at Gansey, “didn’t bother to mention your birthday until last week.”

Gansey put his hands up defensively. “Hey! We’ve all been busy these past few weeks.” Before anyone could dwell on what it was they had been busy with, Gansey quickly added, “Anyway, Ronan knew, too. Didn’t you?”

Everyone turned towards Ronan, who just shrugged.

Before the debate was able to turn into an argument, Adam began regaining his ability to speak. “This– you– I– I can’t believe you remembered my birthday.”

“Of course we remembered,” Gansey’s voice was reassuring, and all of Adam’s friends looking at him with genuine, caring looks on their faces. Adam felt a strong, indescribable feeling strike him in that moment, a deep sense of importance and belonging.

“Thank you,” Adam’s words came out softer and gentler than he had intended, his voice filled with his Henrietta accent. He felt himself smile, surprising himself.

A grinning Noah crossed the room to put a party hat on Adam’s head and a party blower in Adam’s mouth. Feeling foolish but pleased, Adam accepted the party favors, blowing out the party blower as a common courtesy. He glanced around the room and found that everyone, even Ronan, was looking at him with a smile. Laughing, he let his cold-handed friend grab his wrist and drag him farther into the room. “Snacks,” Noah pointed out cheerfully, far too excited about food than someone who couldn’t eat any of it should be.

As Adam surveyed the table, staring at all of the food and desperately trying not to think about how much it all must have cost, telling himself not to get angry and defensive over birthday gifts, the rest of the group began to wander over and stand around the table.

Gansey picked up a bag of healthy-looking chips and opened it. “So, are you surprised? Did you expect this?” He grabbed a few chips from the bag and dropped them into his mouth, chewing as he waited for Adam’s answer.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting _this_ ,” Adam gestured to the decorated room, “But, I could tell you were up to something.”

“No! How?”

Before Adam could tell him how obvious he had been being, Blue beat him to it. “You won’t stop nudging Noah and I, and your whispering can actually be quite loud, because, when you get excited about something, you cannot. shut. up. Did you really expect him not to pick up on that?”

“Yeah, you three are really bad at this, aren’t you?” There was a note of teasing in Ronan’s voice.

Adam sighed and sent Ronan an exasperated look. “You may have been more subtle, but you really weren’t that much better. Did you really think that saying, ‘Gansey said,’ before telling me anything wouldn’t cause any suspicion?”

The group laughed at their stupid mistakes and ate snacks and pretended that there weren’t real secrets between them, ones that they did a much better job of concealing. The room was filled with joy, all thoughts of the awfulness and strangeness of the world, all thoughts of old arguments and conflicts between them, pushed as far down in their thoughts as possible.

His friends may have done a bad job of hiding the surprise; the party may have been weeks after his birthday; he may have had a forest rustling in the back of his mind; but there was no denying, despite it all, that this was the best birthday Adam had ever celebrated.


End file.
